Training camp began with Kevin Garnett telling the world that the lesson of the 2008-09 NBA season was a lesson in humility. Garnett said he was humbled by the injury. Strike that. He said the Celtics had been humbled by the injuries they suffered: "I think last year did one thing for us. If anything, it humbled us." The humility didn't last long, as we soon heard Paul Pierce saying that the Celtics last year might have won 75-80 games had Garnett been healthy, Doc Rivers saying that the Celtics' defense this year might be the basketball equivalent of the 1985 Chicago Bears, Doc Rivers saying the Celtics' goal this season was win the first 41 games, and finally Rasheed Wallace suggesting the Celtics might finish the 2009-10 NBA season 73-9.
Despite being a devotee of both Joe Namath and Muhammad Ali, I'm not a big fan of boastful athletes, unless the boast comes after they just brought home the bling. At that point, by all means, boast away. Otherwise, I liked the Celtics' approach during 2007-08 season, when they constantly downplayed what they had accomplished from N0vember through May, emphasized the team ego, and talked about the journey being bigger than any records set along the way.
Clearly, that isn't going to be the approach this year. We've moved on, I guess. What does that tell us? It tells me the green will go balls to the wall this year, like this is their only chance and their last chance to win another championship. Apparently, the expect to make some history, too. With their bench, maybe the Celtics' deserve to be boastful. I guess we'll see.
2 comments:
I agree. There is no use antagonizing other teams with boasts like that. That's like putting that bullseye back on themselves.
The one athlete who could boast was Larry Bird. I never heard a boast that he didn't back up.
My favorite one was where he told the dallas bench where he was gonna catch the pass and nail the game winning 3 from.
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